I know the thing about before christ and after christ, but i assume it was a hundred years or whatever after jesus that the b.c. and a.d. idea started? how did it come about?
2007-12-09 08:20:55 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
The first calculation (by Dionysius Exiguus) to establish a basic "start" date for the Anno Domini calendar was completed in what we now call AD 525 (that is when he sent a letter to the pope) with explanations sent the following year.
Since Jesus's birth was taken to have occured on December 25, he calculated so that the year AD 1 corresponded to the year that began right after his birth. (There was no zero in roman numerals, so numbering schemes began with 1).
The main reason that 'Little Denis' invented the AD scheme was to create a mathematical function to determine the date of Easter. With common calendars that restarted with new leaders or followed a 15-year taxation cycle, it was difficult to do the calculations other than on a year-by-year basis (Easter being on the first sunday after the first Full Moon after the Spring equinox).
However, the AD year numbering was not really used by people until about AD 730. Most European countries accepted the AD year numbering in the 9th century (and some as late as 10th or 11th). The last holdout was Portugal (AD 1422).
I once read a story that the AD calendar was really pushed by the Church around the end of what we call the 8th century, because another calendar then in use was arriving at some round figure (Anno Mundi 6000) and many people were terrified that this meant the end of the world was coming (remember Y2k? Same idea, except with more panic).
It is also possible that Charlemagne himself liked the idea (likely proposed by Alcuin, his advisor) and insisted on having the date of his crowning as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (a.k.a. the Carolingian empire under Charles and his successors) in AD 800.
However, I have not (yet) been able to verify the stories. But it is interesting to note that the two dates coincide (AM 6000 = AD 800).
2007-12-09 08:38:40 · answer #1 · answered by Raymond 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
B.C. means before common era, so basically before Jesus was born.
A.D. means Anno Domini, or the year of our Lord. A.D. starts the year Jesus Christ was born. (Which is why the years go from B.C. 1 to A.D. 1..there is no year 0. Jesus was born in A.D. 1) It does not mean "after death" as most people say it.
These terms started being used in the 6th century.
2007-12-09 08:33:00 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably when the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. (c. 313 AD). When the priests really got their greasy hands on the wheels of power. But that's just a guess.
2007-12-09 08:30:12 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The AD (Anno Domini) system was devised in 525, but was not adopted until the 8th century in Europe. Portugal was the last to adopt it in the 1400s.
Anno Domini means "in the year of our Lord" and therefore anything before that was Before Christ (BC).
These days we now refer to Common Era and Before Common Era (CE and BCE) to avoid offending non-Christians.
2007-12-09 08:29:54 · answer #4 · answered by the_lipsiot 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
B.C.= Before Christ
A.D.= After Death
2007-12-09 08:23:46 · answer #5 · answered by Astron✮ 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
B.C- Before Commen era.
A.D.- After Death of Jesus (also known as A.C., after common era).
2007-12-09 08:25:15 · answer #6 · answered by JaslineDaHood 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
In about the 3rd century, when the king of the time, or one of his 'subjects' decided that the time would be right to start keeping time.
2007-12-09 08:24:37 · answer #7 · answered by Esther w 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
recently because they didn't feel like counting before 0
2007-12-09 08:25:12 · answer #8 · answered by ~Zippy~Lil' Mar~ 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
after jesus death it became ad
2007-12-09 08:23:20 · answer #9 · answered by cy p 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋